French Report Into Rwanda Genocide 'important Step': Kagame

Kigali, April 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Apr, 2021 ) :Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Wednesday welcomed a historic report commissioned by Paris that concluded France bears overwhelming responsibilities over the 1994 genocide in his country.

"We welcome this report, because it marks an important step toward a common understanding of what took place," Kagame said at an annual ceremony to mark the start of the genocide, in which 800,000 people were slaughtered in 100 days.

"It also marks the change, it shows the desire, even for leaders in France, to move forward with a good understanding of what happened." A historical commission set up by President Emmanuel Macron concluded last month there had been a "failure" on the part of France under former leader Francois Mitterrand over the genocide.

Paris had "remained blind" to preparations for mass killings of Rwanda's Tutsi minority, said the damning report handed to Macron.

It came after years of accusations France did not do enough to halt the massacres and was even complicit in the crimes, and still poisons relations between the two countries to this day.

The report said France had been "involved with a regime that encouraged racist massacres," although there was no evidence that it had any "willingness" to join in the genocide itself.

Kagame said a parallel investigation carried out by Rwandan authorities would release its findings this month, saying the conclusions "go in the same direction" as the French report.

The former rebel commander, who has ruled Rwanda since the aftermath of the genocide, said "the decades-long effort by certain French officials to cover up their responsibilities has caused significant damage".

"The important thing is to continue working together to document the truth," he said.